Beginning As Brothers
by Michelle-And-The-Beatle
Summary: Moses tries to make up for the time he spent being Rameses' brother with his real one, Aaron. He tries to make some sort of mark on him, but doesn't have much luck... until Aaron comes back injured, and they talk some more. That's when the bonding begins. One-shot. Please Enjoy!


Moses walked back from Pharaoh's palace with Zipporah, unsuccessful in granting his people freedom. They entered Aaron and Miriam's little home and told them of their story.

"I just don't see how Rameses will ever let me win this," Moses said, sitting himself down on a chair near the window. Miriam walked up to him.

"You mustn't doubt the Lord, Moses. He will deliver us, I kn-"

"I am not doubting Him. I still have faith; I just don't know how He, even with all of his wonders, will persuade Pharaoh."

Aaron was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, listening to the conversation. His back was to them and he was busy sewing fabric together, which Miriam was supposed to be doing.

Moses glanced at Aaron.

"We better get back to work," Miriam said after talking to Moses for a few minutes. She walked over to Aaron still in the corner of the room.

"No, I'll finish it, Miriam. I'll do it," Moses heard Aaron say. Miriam then said that she should go and help transport water from the well.

"I'll help you," Zipporah followed Miriam out of the house. Now just Moses and Aaron were left. Moses watched his brother work in silence for a while. Then he stood up and sat in a chair nearer to Aaron. Aaron didn't seem to have noticed Moses move.

"What are you doing?" Moses asked. The broken silence seemed to scare Aaron because he jumped in his seat.

"Oh, I was... Just finishing Miriam's job."

"Which is?"

"S-She had to make sacks to carry sand and grain."

"I see," Moses wasn't smiling very much, but his eyes gave him away. Aaron turned back to his work when Moses spoke no further. Moses waited a couple more minutes before choosing to speak again.

"What was our mother like?"

Aaron continued sewing, but his fingers moved faster now.

"Uhh... s-she was very nice."

"I guessed as much," Moses chuckled, "But what was she _like_? How did she act?"

"I really should be working-"

"What happened to her after she sent me away to save my life?" Moses continued. Aaron's hands were shaking now. He figured it would be no use to work while being interrogated. Aaron turned in his chair to face Moses. He saw how calm he looked, and it made him nervous.

"Your mother- _Our _mother was a very kind woman. She always stayed with us, me and Miriam, and always found time to listen to us or play with us. And when she told us we were having a younger brother, we were all very excited. Especially Miriam, she really loved you."

Moses smiled.

"But when Pharaoh gave the order to kill all of the first-borns, Jochebed feared for you. She loved you too much for you to be murdered. So, she took us and we ran off to the bank of the Nile River. She and Miriam had made a basket, and she placed you inside of it. We said a prayer that you would be safe, and our mother sent you off on the river in that basket."

Aaron paused to see if he could read anything on Moses' face. The deliverer seemed to be transfixed, staring at the wall ahead of him.

"M-Miriam followed you on your journey in the basket. She wanted to make sure that you would be safe. And she saw that you were in good hands and came back to the river's edge where she left us. Our mother took us back to our home for a short time. She explained to us that we needed to stay together no matter what. A-And she hid us... She left the house and we never saw her again. Miriam was left in charge of me since I was younger than her."

Moses seemed to come out of his revere when Aaron's story finished.

"I hope that answered your questions," Aaron turned back to his work without another word.

"And what happened to you and Miriam after that?"

"Moses, I need to finish this before sundown, which is approaching."

"Forgive me, Aaron. I should let you get back to your work. I'm sure Miriam will finish the story for me."

Aaron looked at the needle and fabric he held in his hands, then sighed. He put them down once more, but did not turn to face Moses.

"We were alright for about a day. Then the next night after Jochebed left us, all of the Hebrews were forced into slavery. And in the morning we began working."

"At such young ages?"

"Of course. Pharaoh wanted the young and lively to work hard. Not as hard as the older ones, but hard enough."

"And that's why I wish to free all of you, Aaron. So you don't have to work ever again. The Lord will provide."

"Yeah... okay. And when exactly_ will_ he provide?" Aaron continued working but his voice became hard.

"In do time. You must have fa-"

"No, don't even say that word. I hear it from Miriam every hour of the day. I do have faith," Aaron quieted his voice, "It's just waning at this point."

Moses let his brother calm down before speaking.

"Aaron... I will make sure that the Lord will free all of you from slavery. And you shall live a long life in the Promised Land."

Aaron looked at Moses in his eyes. Moses smiled at him.

"You do care, Aaron. You care just as much as I."

"I-I... thank you."

"Now, I'll let you continue working."

Aaron nodded, faltered with his needles, then continued making the pattern in the sack.

Moses was deep in thought when he heard Aaron say, "Ow!"

Aaron had pricked his finger with one of the needles.

"I'm no good at this... Miriam should be doing this, not me," Aaron mumbled to himself, sucked on his bleeding finger, and continued sewing.

Moses began laughing upon hearing that. Aaron glanced at his younger brother, trying to hide a flush that appeared on his cheeks.

Moses was still chuckling as he asked him, "Aaron, is there something I can do to help you?"

"No, it's fine. I can do it."

"Really, I can sew pretty well-"

"It's fine, Moses."

Moses stopped smiling completely now. There was a silence that filled the room, only broken by the distant grunts from Hebrews hard at work. Miriam came inside just then. Aaron stood up immediately, whispered something to Miriam and walked out of the house.

"It's just because you're afraid of believing in him, Aaron!" Miriam yelled after Aaron. Then she turned to Moses, who had stood up when Miriam walked in.

"I'm sorry about him."

"Don't be."

"I really should finish my job. Aaron took mine," Miriam walked and sat down in the chair her brother previously occupied and began sewing. She worked much faster than Aaron.

Moses took his seat again when he felt like it was safe to.

"Aaron doesn't smile much, does he?"

"Well, he hasn't had much reason to. And I couldn't help overhear your conversation. I thought for sure he would grow closer to you when explaining about our past, but..." Miriam couldn't find words.

"But he is afraid to open up."

"Yes. He's scared of opening up himself to anyone, really. But I can't imagine him acting like that to his own brother."

"We must forgive him, Miriam. Aaron just needs to be enlightened more."

"I hope so. And he's been acting like this ever since we met you by the well. When I told you that you were our brother."

Moses looked out of the window, like he did before.

"He loves you. I know he does."

Moses smiled weakly at her.

"And I don't doubt that."

"You know," Miriam smiled, "Aaron wouldn't stop talking about you when we heard that you were a prince of Egypt. He couldn't believe that his baby brother was a _prince_."

Moses laughed and Miriam smiled with him.

"It is hard to believe that an excited boy like Aaron is the one he is today."

Moses looked out the window to see the Hebrews tirelessly working in the desert heat.

"I should help," he stood up, but Miriam caught him by his forearm.

"You have done enough, Moses. You are our deliverer, and that's enough for us."

"If I am to one day lead these people, I should know what it is like to walk among them."

"You are too kind, Moses. You should help near the water well. They're running low on workers."

"I will. Continue sewing."

Miriam went back to her chair as Moses took his staff and went outside. Moses squinted his eyes as the blinding sunlight hit him. He heard yells and the crack of whips in the distance. God's deliverer shook his head, wanting so badly to free his people of this misery.

Moses helped transport water from the well, which was usually the Hebrew children's job. He had a nice time making them smile or laugh, relieving some of the pain they were facing as slaves.

At dusk, Moses went back to Miriam and Aaron's house to find Zipporah and Miriam sitting and talking. They both stopped talking to each other and turned to look at Moses.

"Aaron has not returned yet?" he asked them.

"No," Zipporah answered him.

"He doesn't always come back on time, so I wouldn't worry," Miriam said. Moses nodded and rested his shepherd's staff against the wall. So, the three of them waited for Aaron to come home.

It was much later in the night when the door finally opened. Aaron was standing at the doorway.

"Oh, Aaron, thank goodness!" Miriam said, smiling.

"Sorry I'm late... there was an old man a-and he needed..." Aaron leaned on the door frame, his knees bending slightly.

"Aaron?" Miriam asked nervously, standing up from her chair.

"... I had to help him..." Aaron walked one step and he collapsed onto all four of his limbs.

"Aaron!" Miriam yelled, alarmed. She and Zipporah ran to him as Moses stood up quickly. Zipporah tried getting and arm under his to help him to his feet. But when she gripped his back, Aaron gasped and flinched away violently.

"I'm sorry. What happened to you?"

"Mmm," Aaron groaned with his mouth closed. Then he finally found the strength to speak, "My back... don't touch..."

Miriam and Zipporah backed away as Aaron grabbed the window ledge for support to lift himself up. He finally did so, his whole body shaking.

"Aaron... what- did they-?" Miriam was on the verge of tears.

Moses looked on, frightened for his brother. He moved closer to him.

"Lean on me," Moses said to Aaron. Aaron looked at Moses, then placed a careful arm around his shoulders. Moses was careful that he didn't touch Aaron's back as he led him to sit on a chair. Aaron sighed and hunched himself over once he was seated.

"Aaron, what happened?" Miriam asked, kneeling in front of him.

"I-I saw them attacking an old man... and I tried to make them stop... B-but they turned on me, and..." Aaron pointed to his back. Miriam stood again and gently lifted Aaron's vest to reveal a lashed back. Miriam gasped. They had never fallen to an Egyptian's whip before because they were careful to behave themselves. But these gashes were deep, long, and red with blood.

Moses' eyes widened, then cringed, at the sight.

"Oh, Aaron!" Miriam covered her mouth with her hands. Zipporah's first reaction was to stop the bleeding. She ran outside with a cloth and bowl, then came back with the bowl filled with water.

"Aaron, I'm going to try and clean your wounds," Zipporah wet the cloth in the water and began softly dabbing it on one of Aaron's gashes. He hissed as the water stung the open cut.

"I'm sorry, it's going to hurt."

"N-No, it's just... cold."

Zipporah smiled at Aaron's humor. She dabbed again.

"Ow!"

"Still cold?" Zipporah smirked. Aaron looked at her, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

Miriam soon followed suit when the shock wore off. She grabbed another cloth and cleaned Aaron's wounds along with Zipporah. Moses just watched.

Miriam, Zipporah, and Moses were all silent as Aaron was getting his wounds taken care of. Aaron was occasionally letting out gasps, or flinching away from one of the cloths.

"Aaron, they must have lashed you a dozen times," Miriam said.

"Well, it sure-ah!- felt like that," Aaron was clutching his hands together tightly, to try and alleviate the pain. With one more violent jump, Moses spoke.

"I am so sorry that you are in pain, Aaron."

"Yeah, well..." Aaron glanced up at Moses, then returned his gaze to the floor.

"We're almost done," Zipporah said.

"Good."

Within ten minutes more, Zipporah and Miriam were rinsing their cloths, which were now the color red. While they were doing that, Moses brought a chair and sat next to Aaron. He looked at his back, which was only slightly better than when he came in the house. The good news was that most of the gashes had stopped bleeding. Moses also saw that Aaron was shaking.

He placed a hand on the back of Aaron's neck, since he was still hunched over, and squeezed it lightly. Aaron didn't flinch, nor look up.

"This is why God wants the Hebrews freed. You will be reconciled when the Egyptians pay for what has been done to you and thousands of others."

Aaron looked up at Moses and said, "And he will reward you, Moses. For being such a great leader... and brother."

Aaron smiled slightly at Moses and put one of his hands on Moses' shoulder. Moses just looked at Aaron, his mouth open, then smiled at the compliment. God's deliverer leaned down and touched his forehead with Aaron's and kept his grip on the back of his brother's neck. They looked at each other and smiled.

Moses went on to help the women wrap up Aaron's cuts from the whips and they ate a supper of manna and bitter herbs. God was watching over them, like all of his Chosen People. And He was paying especially close attention to the growing bond between Moses and Aaron.

**EXPLANATION: I know that in the Bible, Moses's mom becomes his nurse and basically cares for him his whole childhood. But in the movie, they totally neglected to mention that. So, I'm just following with what the movie did.**

**And Moses' mother's name is Jochebed (or Yochebel, as said in "The Ten Commandments"), for those of you who were confused when you read that.**

**And I know that I didn't really nail each of the characters' attitudes, especially Miriam's, so please don't badger me about that. I tried. It's hard writing all B.C. and ancient. **

**I will classify this as drabble, since I had no true plot worked out on it. Oh well...**


End file.
